Murder in Japan

Although the Japanese government pushes the idea that the increasing crime rate here is due to foreigners, stats don't show that. Foreigners commit a very, very small percentage of crimes. That percentage is further distorted by the fact that many crimes foreigners commit cannot be committed by Japanese---for example visa overstay violations.

In the last week, a mother and her 3 children were stabbed to death by an intruder. In another case, two young boys were beaten and murdered by a friend of the father. In the latter case the police had known the children had been beaten before--as did the child protective services, but did nothing. One reason given was that children were to be removed from the home of an abusive parent, but the law said nothing about removing them from home with abusive people who weren't parents. Also, one bizarre statement that the so-called "police officers" made was that since the children didn't actually say they had been beaten, nothing could be done. (The boys' faces were swollen and bruised enough for a shopkeeper who saw them called the "police".)

A month or so ago a nutjob stabbed 7 people in two separate houses to death. It was revealed that complaints had been made to the clowns posing as police about the nutcase attacking and threatening people in the past. Supposedly, nothing could have been done then either unless he had been caught in the act. Since the clowns spend most of their time sitting in police boxes with A/C watching citizens being attacked by yakuza thugs and refusing to intervene, it is unlikely they could ever catch many criminals in the act of anything. (Yea, the yakuza watching incident happened last month when a guy ran to the stooge box and begged for help. The two '"police officers" stood cowering in their booties while the thugs beat and took the man away. This is not the first time such an incident has happened.) Remember about 20 years ago when American taxpayers sent high ranking police officials to Japan to study the secret of its low crime ways? Never got much worth a damn and if you live here, you can understand why. They did get the visiting foreigner ass-kiss and snowjob treatment though.

I do apologize to any real law enforcement professional who may be offended by my calling the Japanese imbeciles "police officers."

Autumn

is on its way. Yea, it is still hot, in the mid 80s, but it is "cooling" down at night. I can't wait. Autumn in Tokyo is very mild and except for shorter days, it is hard to tell fall from summer. But there is a little difference. People with full autumns like those in the northern U.S. would be disappointed. Outside of Tokyo in the mountains it can be beautiful, but the crowds on weekends make it something to avoid.